Eyewitness (1956 film)

Eyewitness
British 1-sheet poster
Directed by	Muriel Box
Produced by	Sydney Box
Written by	Janet Green
Starring	Donald Sinden Muriel Pavlow Belinda Lee Michael Craig
Distributed by	Rank Organisation
Release date	14 August 1956
Running time	82 minutes
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English

Eyewitness is a 1956 British thriller film directed by Muriel Box and starring Donald Sinden, Muriel Pavlow, Belinda Lee, Michael Craig, and Richard Wattis. It was made by the Rank Organisation.

After an argument with her husband, Lucy Church storms out of her house and goes to see a film at the local cinema. While coming back from making a phone call, she stumbles across the office where she witnesses the murder of the cinema manager by two criminals Wade and Barney who are in the process of robbing the cinema's safe. When they pursue her, she is struck by a bus and is taken to hospital. Unable to leave the town until they know what has happened to her, the two robbers head to the hospital to observe her. Meanwhile her husband Jay Church has grown concerned and scours the town searching for her.

At the hospital the medical staff attend to Lucy and place her in a quiet although she has yet to regain consciousness. Wade, watching from the nearby shrubbery realises that if she lives she would be able to identify him and he would be hanged for murder and he decides to murder her in spite of the protests of his partner, Barney, who has grown disillusioned with his sinister intent. Wade is uninterested and beats him. He several times tries to enter the hospital to suffocate her but is repeatedly foiled, by the watchfulness of an elderly patient and a series of interruptions by the nurse's boyfriend, an expectant father and the watchman and dog on their rounds.

Eventually, Wade assumes the disguise of a hospital orderly and takes Lucy to the operating theatre where he plans to murder her – only to be prevented by the sudden reappearance of Barney, his associate.

The lead role of a murderer was a change of pace for actor Donald Sinden, who did extensive research for the part, modelling his performance on Neville Heath.